There are several medical conditions that cause pain in patients' body cavities. As one example, oral mucositis is an inflammatory condition of oral mucosa associated with severe pain arising from the chemotherapy agents that cancer patients must ingest as an adjunct to bone marrow transplant. As another example, there are large number of women suffer from pain in the vaginal canal, which is usually associated with an underlying medical and/or psychological condition. For instance, atrophic vaginitis (also known as vaginal atrophy), which is an inflammation of the vagina due to the thinning and shrinking of the tissues, is common for postmenopausal women as a result of decrease in estrogen level. Other examples include overactive bladder (OAB), hemorrhoids in anus, inflammation induced pain in tooth and gum, etc.
This invention discloses a new phototherapy and massage apparatus for treating medical conditions in a patient's body cavity, through which phototherapy and mechanical massage are applied to the subject tissue in a concerted manner. The two treatment methods benefit from each other thereby producing significantly improved therapeutic results.